“To Be” Verbs and

Passive Voice

What is a “to be” verb?• A verb that is used in a number of

ways in the English language, including linking, passive construction, and auxiliary

• Has many forms, including is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been

How are they used?• Present Tense:

– I am/we are– You are– He, she, it is/they are

• Past Tense:– I was/we were– You were– He, she, it was/they were

• Perfect form:– I, you, they, we have been

• Progressive form: – I am being, they are being, etc.

Linking Verbs• “To be” verbs are used as linking verbs to

describe the role or description of the subject. They are called this because they link the subject and the subject complement. – Examples:

The cat is black.– They are late to the party.– He was not very happy. – Driving a car is faster than walking.

Now you try!• Create a sentence that describes

something with a linking verb.

Auxiliary verbs• Used with progressive and progressive perfect

tenses– Present progressive: The dog is barking.– Past progressive: The dog was barking.– Future progressive: The dog will be barking.– Present perfect progressive: The dog has been

barking for five minutes.– Past perfect progressive: The dog had been

barking when I got home.– Future perfect progressive: The dog will have

been barking for 20 minutes by the time I finish this workshop!

For more information…

• See the PowerPoint on Verb Tenses on the Writing Center website.

Now you try!• Create a sentence with a progressive

tense and an auxiliary verb.

Passive Voice

• Passive voice occurs with the emphasis is placed on the object of the action rather than the subject. – Example:• Active voice: The boy threw the ball.• Passive voice: The ball was thrown.

Why use passive voice?• The actor is unknown:

– The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone Age. [We don't know who made them.]

• The actor is irrelevant:– An experimental solar power plant will be built in the Australian desert. [We are not interested

in who is building it.]• You want to be vague about who is responsible:

– Mistakes were made. [Common in bureaucratic writing!]• You are talking about a general truth:

– Rules are made to be broken. [By whomever, whenever.]• You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on. For example, it may be your main topic:

– Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by researchers at the University of Toronto. It is still the only treatment available for diabetes.

• You are writing in a scientific genre that traditionally relies on passive voice. Passive voice is often preferred in lab reports and scientific research papers, most notably in the Materials and Methods section:– The sodium hydroxide was dissolved in water. This solution was then titrated with hydrochloric

acid. (Corson, Tim and Rebecca Smollett)

“To Be” verbs usedwith passive voice

• When using to be verbs with passive voice, they are used similarly to linking and auxiliary verbs.

• Passive sentences are constructed as follows: – [thing receiving action] + [to be verb] +

[past participle of verb]+[by] + [thing doing action] (“Active/Passive Verb Forms”).

Examples

• Present progressive tense: “The sweater is being knit by the girl.”

• Simple past: “The sweater was knit by the girl.”

• Simple past, plural: “The pies were made by different people.”

Now you try!• Create a sentence in the passive

voice.

Works Cited

Corson, Tim and Rebecca Smollett. “Passive Voice: When To Use It and When To Avoid It." University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto, n.d. Web. 12 Nov, 2014.

“Active/Passive Verb Forms.” Englishpage.com. Language Dynamics, n.d. Web. 12 Nov, 2014.